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LIE LIKE A RUG

Killing time before delivering an incorrigible delinquent to be scared straight by a judge, Ginger Barnes takes the boy to watch part of a federal trial. To her dismay, the defendant is her childhood baby-sitter, retired textile professor Charlie Finneymeyer, accused of selling a fraudulent antique Oriental rug. When suspicious heart attacks claim first a witness then Charlie's alleged "customer," Gin's volunteer fact-finding becomes a rush to untangle a knot of deceit involving Winterthur, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Betsy Ross.
 
July 2001
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-97879-9
$6.50
  
  
     

FAREWELL PERFORMANCE:

Blonde bombshell Jan Fairchild told Gin she returned from Hollywood to get in touch with her roots, and the old high school gang certainly acted glad to see her. What the cinema sex-symbol probably should have remembered: Most fatal accidents occur within five miles of home.
 
March 2000
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-07456-6
$5.99
 
"I read your latest book [FAREWELL PERFORMANCE] ...and enjoyed it immensely. You got the reunion atmosphere down just right--a mixture of regret, jealously, bittersweet nostalgia, etc. But the part I liked best was Gin's thoughts about her father, especially when she returned to the school of which both had been a part. This was top literary fiction, I think. Bravo!"
- Robin Hathaway, Agatha winning author of
THE DOCTOR DIGS A GRAVE
  
  
     

A SCORE TO SETTLE:

To save her cousin's baby, savvy football fan, Ginger Barnes tackles the murder of an NFL quarterback. Another surprise ending.
 
March 1999
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-96951-1
$5.99
  
   
     
NO BONES ABOUT IT:

A dog trainer is accused of reprograming her ex-husband's guard dog to turn on him. Trying to help out, Gin agrees to look into the fate of the German shepherd, but the dog is doomed unless a judge hears the truth and nothing but the truth. Lots in this one about dieting and dogs.
 
February 1998
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-96423-4
$5.99
  
"...you did a fancy juggling act in "Bones" and pulled it off beautifully! What caught me especially was how the various specialized dog-vegetarian-etc. materials *all* tied together to give me a greater insight into Gin herself as a person. THAT's pretty rare!...And, oh, golly! what you say about Cynthia Struve is so utterly bang on! I don't need to meet the woman...I'd know her anywhere!"
- Ellie Miller, Independent Reviewer
  
  
     

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS:

Beech Tree Lane is having its very own crime wave. First Gin's friend Liz is murdered by a home intruder, and now Letty MacNair, the Barnes's eccentric older neighbor has been mugged. Drawn farther and farther into Letty's problems, Gin discovers the woman will never be safe until Liz's killer is caught.
 
February 1997
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-96104-9
$5.99
 
"Too smart to be a cozy...." a mystery bookseller says of SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS.
- Carolyn, "Alice" of Malice, The Mystery Bookstore, www.malicebooks.com
 
 
"Murray writes a compelling tale-I read it in one sitting-with the family's problems as interesting as those of the neighborhood. This third Ginger Barnes tale shows a smooth style, quiet humor, and a feeling for the texture of everyday life. Very highly recommended."
- Janet Overmyer, The Armchair Detective
re SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
 
 
"[Readers] will surely appreciate Murray's smart, often insightful first-person narrative and her coherent characters."
- Publishers Weekly, 1/20/97
re SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
  
  
     

FINAL ARRANGEMENTS:

Gin's mother trades a ride to the world-renowned Philadelphia Flower show for two passes to see it before the public arrives, a good deal until Iffy Bigelow, their #1 passenger, turns up strangled, ostensibly by their #2 passenger, Iffy's emotionally disturbed niece. Mom begs Gin to unearth the real murderer. "You've done it before, now you can you can do it for me."
 
February 1996
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-95765-3
$5.99
    
  
     

THE MAIN LINE IS MURDER:

Gin, regarding Bryn Derwyn Academy's attorney, whose body she has discovered inside the small private school's Community room, "I disliked him the day we met, and nothing he's done in the six months since has improved my opinion." Yet if she doesn't hurry to (discreetly) solve the murder, there will be no more Bryn Derwyn Academy for her husband to head, and the Barnes family will be out on the street.
 
October 1995
St. Martin's Press
ISBN #0-312-95637-1
$5.50
 
"Murray is able to nail down the atmosphere of the well-to-do, and Barnes' irreverent attitude about her situation makes for a great character - almost as if Spenser was a housewife."
- DJS or The Drood Review of Mystery, 9-10/95
re THE MAIN LINE IS MURDER
 
 
"Donna Huston Murray deftly weaves a troubling tale of academic politics and betrayal, and Ginger Struve Barnes is a credible, engaging protagonist. An excellent launch for a welcomed new series."
- Jeremiah Healy, author
re THE MAIN LINE IS MURDER
 
 
"If you love the mysteries of Carolyn G. Hart, Jill Churchill and Diane Mott Davidson, you'll definitely want to add this new series to your library . . ."
- Nancy Pickard, author
re THE MAIN LINE IS MURDER
 
 
"Thank heavens! A cozy with a brain!"
- Ellie Miller, Independent Reviewer
re THE MAIN LINE IS MURDER
     
     

 

   

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